RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2011 | Vol. 87, No. 99 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Unstoppable in OT, Sports, A12
PILOT DIES IN CRASH
Getting help from the inside out
Justin Burnett / Whidbey News-Times
A man looks over the edge of Ebey’s Bluff at a plane that crashed into the hillside Thursday afternoon.
Brian Kelly / The Record
Chuck Prochaska stands on the maple floor of the Deer Lagoon Grange — made from salvaged wood from Fort Casey — in the historic building’s signature hall. Prochaska is leading an effort to raise funds to pay for needed repairs at the iconic South Whidbey gathering place.
Deer Lagoon Grange Hall seeks support from community BY PATRICIA DUFF South Whidbey Record
LONE LAKE — She’s 107 years old and her bottom is bowing. It’s not as if she’s going to fall down, it’s just that Deer Lagoon Grange Hall needs a bit of a lift. “The building really needs to be straightened and the trusses need to be reinforced,” said Grange member Chuck Prochaska. That said, the venerable old
building is safe, he added. Prochaska is leading an effort to secure funds for necessary improvements to the hall, which is located on Bayview Road about a mile north of Bayview Corner. “Our objective is to keep this structure in service to the community and to preserve its historic nature, while making the building more useful and functional to keep pace with the evolving needs of
the community,” Prochaska said. The total cost of the work is estimated to be $46,500, including contingency funds for cost increases and unanticipated problems. Permits have already been acquired from the county and Prochaska has received at least $11,000 in pledges of support from community members, in SEE GRANGE, A6
Witness: Engines may have been out BY JUSTIN BURNETT Whidbey News-Times
EBEY’S LANDING — A man was killed Thursday when the small aircraft he was piloting crashed into a bluff on Central Whidbey. Authorities identified the pilot late Friday as Michael Heaton Sr., 59, a six-month resident of Whidbey Island. The crash occurred at Ebey’s Bluff, between Perego’s Lake and the parking lot at the northern end of Hill Road,
at about 4 p.m. The area is a popular spot for hiking and bird watching. First responders, including police and firefighters, arrived to find the aircraft engulfed in flames about one-third of the way from the top of the bluff. The blaze burned unchecked for about 30 minutes before being extinguished. Kimberly Martin, spokeswoman for Whidbey Island SEE CRASH, A7
Blood tests show teen driver had been drinking before fatal wreck BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
COUPEVILLE — A toxicology report shows Kaylea F. Souza was driving impaired when she crashed her 2003 Chevrolet Malibu and killed three passengers last month, an attorney in the Island County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday. Souza, 18, was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide in Island County Superior Court on Nov. 28. She pled “not guilty” to all three charges. Authorities allege that Souza had been drinking malt liquor before
Brian Kelly / Record file
Kaylea Souza appears in court at her arraignment on Nov. 29. she got into her car and drove the night of Nov. 11. Witnesses to the crash told police Souza lost control
while trying to pass another car and hit a tree; Charles “Mack” Porter III, 19, Robert Knight, 22, and Marcel “Mick” Poynter, 20, were killed in the wreck. Two vials of blood were taken from Souza after she was arrested the night of the crash. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Carman said blood toxicology results received by the county show Souza had a blood ethanol level of .10 grams (per 100 ml) at the time of the test, which is equivalent to blowing a .1 on a breath test, he said. Drivers can be charged with DUI
at a level of .08. According to court records, a phlebotomist at Whidbey General Hospital took Souza’s blood more than one hour after the crash. The test results were received this week. Carman said the county had hoped to get results back earlier from the State Patrol, but Carman said there was a delay after the detective in charge of the investigation was pulled away from his regular duties to provide security at the state Capitol during last week’s Occupy protests in Olympia. Carman declined to discuss the
case at length, and noted the investigation into the accident is still ongoing. Souza is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 24, and two preliminary hearings have been set for Dec. 19 and Jan. 9. At her last court appearance on Nov. 28, her friends and family packed the courtroom. Peter Simpson, her court-appointed attorney, asked the judge to cut her bail to $15,000 and noted her lack of a criminal history and her ties to the SEE DRIVER, A7